Two years ago, when we learned Tech’s bar mitzvah was going to be on June 23, 2012, he immediately announced he knew he wanted a science theme. Once I embraced my inner geek wrapped my brain around the whole science thing, I got excited as it was an opportunity to be creative! Tech told us added that he also wanted things to feel summery, so green became our inspiration color.

You know, like perfectly new grass. And laboratory slime.

Thanks to Rishona Beck Myers, my old summer camp buddy, for helping me with the invitations. Rish is a serious event planner down in the Philadelphia area, and I was so lucky to have her help me with Tech’s invitations. If you are down the Philly way and you are looking for some help with any kind of event, check out RM Creative Events Management, Inc.I had to futz with Tech’s real invitation by taking off his name which was in big letters across the bottom, but you get the gist of what it looked like.

We found lime-colored kippot from skullcap.com. And, I’m telling you, those yarmulkes lit up the sanctuary!

I have to brag a little. The test tubes cost $13 for 100, so I bought 300. We had enough leftover so the bartender was able to make appletinis for the adults, which was super fun way to get everyone into the science mood! Please note, the cool plastic rack which I got from Tooters, too.

Don’t they look yummy?!

But we needed more science! Luckily, my friend Dina (a professor at the University of Rochester) told me about VWR Labshop. They hooked me up with all my flasks. These Erlenmeyer flasks were on the tables as centerpieces on the kids’ tables. Notice, this was the Platinum table.

The flasks were great outside,too — filled with colorful liquid, at the bar!

I found a garage sale where someone was selling beakers. I bought six for $2. Why didn’t I buy the other 12 beakers for $4? They make such fun barware!

Doesn’t my ginger ale with lime look fancy?

Oh, wait. You should look at my hair. Please, please look at my hair. Because it will never look like that again. I have to thank Dew Point and Humidity and Rochester Weather for being really cooperative. Thanks, you guys. But also, I heart Michael Livernash, the owner of Isobel. He is genius with color. And I have to thank the folks at Scott Miller, specifically my beloved Mary Kay Rox for giving me the best cut ever. (And I say that every time. Even though she’s been doin’ me for 13 years now. Oooh, that sounds naughty.) Thanks also to Kay for the fabulous finish. Because I never do that. Ever. (And that sounds naughty, too!)

I have to thank my friends at our local J.Crew for providing me with all those awesome shirt boxes last September. Sure, they looked at us like we were crazy, but we were able to get some great decor out of them. It’s hard to get a sense from this picture, but with the magic of PVC and spray-painted styrofoam balls, Lance Rightmyer of ViaComp was able to create portable structures which flanked the dance floor.

Lance also made these cool vinyl decals for the windows.

I have to hand it to my husband for making TechSupport’s Periodic Table of Cookies.

They forgot to put out the pink and green smiley face cookies. Ooops.

We could have spent $1,000 on special order cookies each featuring each different element from the Periodic table, but we decided that was crazy. And even though the staff didn’t quite understand how to put the cookies on the platform so it was truly representative of the different kinds of elements, whatever. It looked great. The yummy cookies from Cheryl’s came in pink, green, blue and yellow and plain chocolate. Frankly, people were stoked about the portable Abbott’s Ice Cream sundae bar, where my father made good on a 13-year bet and ate real ice cream for the first time since 1988.

Photo by Bert Maloff

When it came to getting people to their tables, I was a little stumped. I originally planned for the test tubes to serve as seating cards, but the stoooopid stickers kept coming off! Thank goodness for the Internet! I Googled “chemistry inspired bar mitzvah,” and found Angela from Invites & More. Angela could tell I was desperate sent me the exact template she used for the Chemistry bar mitzvah. For free. Seriously? Who does that? If you are looking for great ideas, Angela is your girl. And if you live in New Jersey, you are ever luckier. Look at Angela Shafer’sFacebook page. Angela can make anything. Below are the name badges I created by using Angela’s template. This is the palette from the kids’ tables…

…and we used the reverse palette for the adults! Some people actually wore them!

Once inside, people saw the centerpieces made by Jimmy from Kittleberger Florist. Jimmy understood our theme immediately and suggested we use green table runners which gave us major impact. He also had an idea for how to integrate live flowers in a minimalistic way, which was tricky as my son didn’t want flowers. Jimmy nailed it with these funky, masculine orange whatever-they-ares. People couldn’t tell if they were real or not! They were!

Jimmy popped one giant purple allium in each rock-filled flask. Talk about pop!

The Bar Mitzvah Boys & Turner Music Productions kept everyone hopping. The party started at 6:30 pm and people were still on the dance floor at 11:30 pm! Our dancer, Eva, was one of Tech’s former babysitters!

And the Lord said: “Let them dance!”

Bar Mitzvah Boys also provided us with a Photobooth and captured some hilarious candids!

There were really 4 pictures per strip, but you get the idea.

Our friend David from Proforma made sure the kids had great-looking bags to hold all their crap giveaways. He delivered the box filled with green drawstring backpacks featuring Tech’s logo right to my door. Whaaat? He did! Okay, he lives one neighborhood away, but still! That is service, people!

Bags hung on the backs of all the kids’ chairs for even more color!

I used Einvites thank you notes to coordinate with Tech’s invitations. Interested? Check out the post, I wrote about them HERE.

Hopefully you can appreciate how awesome the decor was. Our photographers from Kracke Photography did a nice job helping us to capture some very special memories.

The day felt wonderful spiritually, and everything looked beautiful, and tasted delicious, too.

The proof is in the pudding. It was obvious to all the thought and effort put in to make this a special day that everyone who attended will appreciate and remember. Renee, when you commit yourself to something you go all the way. [That sounds naughty].

I do try to go all the way. I felt great about the weekend. I wished my mom hadn’t broken her foot. That was a bummer! And I wish we had someone watching the candy bar! Duh! What were we thinking! Thanks for taking that pic of my dad!

Jules, did you not know that I don’t drink? I don’t. I’m missing a enzyme of something that breaks down alcohol. Or something like that. All I know is that alcohol does not make me happy the way it does for some people. It makes me pee. And cry. So I’m good with my CA Ginger Ale. But I’m the perfect designated driver. Just saying.

Thank you for complimenting my J.Crew find. I have to go buy all of those folks cookies. Like tomorrow! 😉

Ah hah. I did not know the abstinence was more than just general preference, but can I still tease you? Hmm. Maybe I won’t. I’m liking this DD idea… I knew we were a match made in heaven. I’ll even help with the cookies.

You’re Superwoman! Seriously — the whole thing was gorgeous and very clever! Kudos!! As for planning such things, I don’t think we invited 100 to our wedding, but daughter and now-husband planned their 200-guest reception with an exclusive good-ol’-boy theme in mind. Since you had beakers and flasks and test tubes, I don’t have to tell you how many days they (and friends) spent washing, drying and plastic-wrapping 200 Mason jar *drinking glasses,* the empty wine bottles soon filled with tea or lemonade for each table, and the small unused waste cans they then painted and adorned with a huge sunflower each, for holding a table’s popcorn. Oh, and so much more. Not much went wrong, so they’ve decided against a do-over! Anyway, I’ll bet Tech was thrilled by the day.

Holy crow. Yes, it sounds like you understand EXACTLY what goes into this kind of a theme. So my question is: What the heck did you do with all of those Mason jars? Did people take them home as gifts? Because i have a boatload of Erlenmeyer flasks on sale on Craigslist. 😉

I have a feeling my dude is going to end up in chemistry. Possibly a chemical engineer. Who knows, really. But he loves chemistry and he loves to figure things out and solve problems creatively. He should totally call you. It was really fun. I’m glad we have some photos to capture the weekend! 😉

We went all out, that’s for sure. At least, I felt like a lot of the stuff we can use again. The test tubes, I’m sure we’ll use at future parties. And the beakers are awesome. We are already using them as drinking glasses!

The flasks…um…I might just have to donate those to a school-at-risk. Seriously, there are too many of them.

Dang, girl, I’m super-duper impressed! We used to do a big bash for new year’s every year for 10 years – caesar salad, twice baked potatoes, tenderloin, etc. (all prepared ourselves) for about 70 people. It was elaborate and fun, but we wanted to mix it up a bit and switched to a Christmas party last year. But it was NOWHERE NEAR the caliber of this shindig! Thanks for the incredible pics and ideas – I loved it!
Oh, and btw, I TOTALLY noticed the awesomeness of your hair that day. Immediately. You and hubs looked totally hip!

Wow! Everything looked AMAZING!!! (Including you!) I’ve been planning my oldest daughter’s wedding since June. She’s getting married June 15, 2013. This is the week right after her board exams and right before her rotations, so she needs lots of help. She’s having a bird and nature themed wedding, but once I direct her to these pics, she might change her mind! (Her minor in undergrad was chemistry!) So very creative you are!

I love the bird theme. Omigosh! She’s leaving your nest! *weep* Well, I hope you are a better event planner than I was. This shizzy almost killed me. Our very Big BangbBar Mitzvah is what we have been calling it of late. It sure was fun.

Oh Lord, no! That is the meanest thing to say. I hated planning this hoshizzle the whole way. Put me in front of a classroom and let me be a superstar in my own world. This was so hard. And so public. And i had a budget. Can you imagine? How mean is that? 😉

Seriously. All these comments and no one mentioned what REALLY matters…

Your hair.

Simply fabulous.
🙂

p.s. But seriously, I love love love the science theme and am only slightly worried that my family of four is going to make some major faux pas at our friends’ daughter’s Bat Mitzvah over Labor Day weekend. I haven’t been to one since I was thirteen. And although I read your posts about Tech Support’s event, hers will be a daytime party. Not sure what we should all wear. Or how much money to give when there are FOUR of us going. I hate being lame. And yet I am.

Daytime in temple is easy: cover the shoulders. So if it is nice weather, you can wear a pencil skirt and a tank with a cardigan. Or if it is hot, you could wear a sundress and a sweater and take the sweater off at the party. Hubby should wear a light suit, if he has one. Or khaki pants and a blue blazer. Kids are just cute.

Give $118 and write something lovely about the child.

They’ll be bawling over your words and be so happy that you got the 18 in there. (It means “to life” in gemitryia).

Also, if you blow it, you can blame it on your Jewish blogging friend. 😉

My favorite post of yours ever because, oh my goodness-how much do I love seeing these pictures. And what a CLEVER idea!!! I’m going to put this on FB and tag my event planning friend Amy in Minnepeapolis. You’ll see in a minute.

I love the Yarmulkes! We had a Shabbat dinner at a friend’s house a couple months back (who’s Jewish… I’d assume that’s obvious), who broke out a HUGE bag of clever Yarmulkes. There was much fighting over them.

Gosh! This is so fantabulously impressive that I don’t know where to start with effusive event-planning envy/worship. The one thing I absolutely can’t get over, though, is how gorgeous your hair looks!

With a name like Tech of course it’s a science theme! Wish I’d read this (and your earlier post about gifts from non-Jews) YESTERDAY when I was preparing to attend a bar mitzvah celebration for a friend who converted many years ago, and now at age 60 finally became a man. I think you would have put me in the proper frame of mind. Honestly, what do you give a really, really late bloomer? Not sure if the Jewish community knew either. In the end I brought a salad to the potluck.

Looks like you son’s bar mitzvah was a beautiful event in every sense. Congratulations. Thanks also for supplying the proper word for a skullcap. Love the lime green. Mazel tov.

Holy Cow. This is absolutely incredible!!!! You are truly inspirational to us mothers who are making themselves crazy trying to pull a bar mitzvah together and nail all of the details! I am wondering if you can let me know which size cork stoppers go with the 6″ test tubes… I think this might be something that would work really well for me. Thanks so much!

Omg! I cannot believe how intricately you carried out this theme! Gorgeous to the last detail! I just did a Broadway theme (that seems so overdone now!) but that was her interest. My firstborn (now a nuclear engineer) would have loved this Science theme but I never thought of it and just did boring computers. My favorite part was the table names. I put people I didn’t like at “The Virus” table…. Lol. Great job, Mom!!

My son’s friends seemed to have enough fun with the dancing. I have certainly been to other events where they are caricaturists and cupcake decorating sessions, etc… We didn’t need it. The evening zipped along beautifully.

Hi Renee, I am planning a science themed Bar Mitzvah for this fall. I was wondering if you would be willing to rent me your flasks and beakers if you still have them. Not sure if you have any other use for them right now. Please let me know.

Hi Vicki. My son’s bar mitzvah was back in 20121, and I sold the flasks to a school many years ago. Believe it or not, I still use the beakers as drinking glasses! Best of luck to you on your upcoming special day! 🙂

Ugh! I’m so sorry. I also have adrenal fatigue as a result of following doctor’s orders and taking a dangerous drug for SEVER years. I have to take it easy more than I care to admit, but I’m still here. It cannot be easy planning a BM by yourself. I hope you are asking for help when you need it.

Embrace The Chaos.

Search me.

Search for:

It’s Me With The Face.

I was prescribed Klonopin for insomnia in 2005. Seven years later, after a slow, medically supervised wean, I became cognitively impaired, and after 30 months of intense suffering, I have been resurrected - a phoenix, come from the ashes, ready to battle doctors and big Pharma, while offering empathic support to those still suffering protracted withdrawal symptoms.

A perfectionist by nature, I'm learning to find beauty in the chaos. I'm the girl with the big ideas and the big hair. And words. Always words.

Seven Times. More Please.

Are Your Hands In My Drawers?

All rights reserved. Excerpting portions of posts and/or linking them is encouraged, provided full and clear credit is given to renée a. schuls-jacobson with proper attribution via hyperlinks directing folks to the original content. Duplication in whole or substantial portion of this site or any component is not permitted: neither is reblogging.